NBA Playoffs 2009Originally Published: May 9, 2009
Yao injury raises Rockets doubts anewComment Email Print Share By J.A. Adande
ESPN.com
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HOUSTON -- The Houston Rockets pulled off the rare feat of winning the battle and losing the war on the same day, after their momentary lift when Ron Artest was spared a suspension for a flagrant foul in Game 3 was crushed under the weight of Yao Ming's tumbling out of the rest of the playoffs.


[+] EnlargeAP Photo/Eric Gay
Yao's left foot was in pain in the fourth quarter. Now Houston is in a world of hurt.
After finally making it out of the first round, Yao couldn't reach the end of the second. His season is over after medical examinations revealed a stress fracture in his left foot. It bothered him throughout Game 3 and he was limping visibly toward the end of the game, finally limping to the bench in the waning minutes.

Already trailing the Lakers two games to one in the best-of-seven conference semifinals, the Rockets can start booking their offseason plans. Yao's injury, following a season-ending injury to Dikembe Mutombo in the first round vs. Portland, leaves the Rockets literally short at center. The 6-foot-6 Chuck Hayes will receive more minutes, and while he has been an effective defender against Lakers 7-footers Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, Hayes has scored only two points in 34 minutes this series.


Yao scored 28 points when the Rockets won the first game, and even in his hobbled state he managed 19 points in Game 3. Without him, the Rockets aren't equipped to match the Lakers' scoring prowess.

The question going forward: How much can the Rockets count on him to be the focal point of this franchise, given his history of injuries? While his 77 regular-season games were his most since 2004-05, this makes back-to-back seasons in which he won't appear in the Rockets' final playoff game. He won't have surgery, but will take eight to 12 weeks to recover, which will affect his offseason conditioning program.

The biggest concern when the Rockets added Artest to their duo of Yao and Tracy McGrady was keeping all three on the court. McGrady barely reached the halfway pole before calling it quits to get knee surgery.

Artest, somewhat surprisingly, has turned out to be the most reliable of the group. He defied his track record of suspension to appear in 69 games, not missing any due to league punishment. He has been ejected from the past two playoff games, receiving a technical foul for confronting Kobe Bryant in Game 2 and a flagrant 2 penalty for a foul on Gasol in Game 3. But even the Lakers thought those ejections were too harsh; the NBA agreed on the second one, downgrading it to a flagrant 1 and allowing him to appear in Game 4.

The Rockets prepared in Saturday's practice as if Yao wouldn't be available. They already had a test run in Game 2, when he missed almost half the game due to foul trouble, and in the second quarter, Houston overcame the Lakers' double-digit lead without Yao.

But asking the Rockets to win three of the next four without Yao? That's simply too much.

J.A. Adande is an ESPN.com senior writer and the author of "The Best Los Angeles Sports Arguments." Click here to e-mail J.A.

Lakers vs. Nuggets confirmed

Posted by bitty41:

Yao is made of glass isn't even worth for the Rockets to build around this guy if every single year he has season-ending injury?

I can't think of any players in the 7'6" range who have been durable. He's probably less injury prone than most of those guys have been, but yeah still too injury prone to be a franchise player.

geeze this stinks. the rockets can't catch a break!

Posted by bitty41:

Yao is made of glass isn't even worth for the Rockets to build around this guy if every single year he has season-ending injury?

considering the rockets make more money than some nba championship teams, i would say yes...

As for Yao, I can't really blame Yao for his injuries. He's still no softie to me.

I think it's been proven that these unbelievably tall guys (Athletes or non athletes) are going to have their share of injury and health problems. I've seen it and I read about it before, maybe it was even on this message board. However, we're lucky Yao has been this good! It says a lot that he's taken his game to where he is, despite all of his injuries.

He may have been dunked on a few times on and blocked by Nate, but he's one of the hardest working players in the league and I'd take him on my team anyday. He's tough. Not soft.

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by bitty41:

Yao is made of glass isn't even worth for the Rockets to build around this guy if every single year he has season-ending injury?

considering the rockets make more money than some nba championship teams, i would say yes...

But they need a better contingency plan that isn't Tracy McGrady.

sometimes things don't work out as planned, in life, bitty. yao has had his injuries, but i wouldn't call him fragile or even injury prone, yet. he has had several loaded summers. this summer he will finally be able to rest. yao is a warrior, a basketball god, he is not weak nor fragile. the rockets will be back next year better than ever.

you can't change this team. you got yao and mcgrady and artest all coming back next year, they're going to jel and mesh and all that, and they're gonna wins it.

Posted by Allanfan20:

As for Yao, I can't really blame Yao for his injuries. He's still no softie to me.

I think it's been proven that these unbelievably tall guys (Athletes or non athletes) are going to have their share of injury and health problems. I've seen it and I read about it before, maybe it was even on this message board.

Maybe it was even just three posts above yours!

Maybe it was yours, or maybe it was a health and science article that discussed how a number of people from China have a disorder (Something called Giantitis or very close to that name) simply b/c China has an enormous population.

And maybe it was a show on National Geographic that discussed how these people with abnormal heights have health and injury problems.

Or maybe it was your post.